DINA for the issue of January 03, 2012

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D A W N I n t e r n e t N e w s A l e r t
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January 03, 2012 Tuesday Safar 8, 1433
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The DAWN Internet News Alert (DINA) is a free daily news-service
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(c) Pakistan Herald Publications (Pvt.) Ltd., Pakistan - 2012

The link at the end of each extract can be used to access the
complete story on DAWN - the Internet Edition.


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Gas price hike, shortage cripple life
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By Ahmad Fraz Khan
LAHORE, Jan 2: Life in major cities of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the capital Islamabad remained crippled on Monday as most of the public transport remained off the roads, industrialists took to the street and factory workers protested against gas loadshedding.

To make matters worse, the Lahore police booked around 35 industrialists and traders, including Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, when they held a demonstration outside the Governor's House...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/03/gas-price-hike-shortage-cripple-life.html


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Gas fuels 'doublethink' walkouts in NA
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By Raja Asghar
ISLAMABAD, Jan 2: The main opposition party and a government ally walked out of the National Assembly's first sitting of the New Year on Monday in protest over the prevailing gas crisis, to be accused by the government of doublethink by saying one thing in closed-door standing committees and acting differently in the open.

It was the Pakistan Muslim League-N that stormed out of the house first in sympathy with countrywide protests by transporters against new restrictions on the supply to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to them to meet shortages faced by domestic consumers, and the MQM followed, in their first protest walkout after rejoining the ruling coalition for the second time in October, accusing the government of showing little concern over a party call-attention notice about a 14 per cent increase in CNG prices...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/03/gas-fuels-doublethink-walkouts-in-na.html


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Nawaz says he will again set up military courts in Sindh
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By Habib Khan Ghori
KARACHI, Jan 2: Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif on Monday declared his party would again establish military courts in Sindh if voted to power in the next general election.

Mr Sharif was speaking at the party's Sindh Council meeting in a hotel. "If our government comes to power, it will ensure provision of electricity to each and every village and will set up military courts to eliminate dacoit rule in the province," he said...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/03/nawaz-says-he-will-again-set-up-military-courts-in-sindh.html


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Taliban factions regroup to fight US forces
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By Sailab Mahsud
LADHA, Jan 2: All jihadi groups, in consultation with Islamic Emirate Afghanistan (shadow Taliban government in Afghanistan), have decided to set up a committee to set aside differences in their ranks and step up support for war against western forces in Afghanistan.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Taliban Shura held at an unspecified place on Monday. A statement issued in the form of a pamphlet to the media in Waziristan after the meeting said: "All Mujahideen -- local and foreigners -- are informed that all jihadi forces, in consultation with Islamic Emirate Afghanistan, have unanimously decided to form a five-member commission. It will be known as Shura-i-Murakbah."..

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/03/taliban-factions-regroup-to-fight-us-forces.html


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No more 'free run' in Pakistan-US ties: ISPR
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RAWALPINDI, Jan 2: Fatigued by a series of diplomatic crises over the past year, the United States and Pakistan are redefining their troubled ties, stepping back from the assumption that common goals can trump mutual suspicion.

For Pakistan that means less cooperation with Washington and willingness, and in some cases eagerness, to swear off some of the American aid that often made Pakistan feel too dependent, and too pushed-around...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/03/no-more-free-run-in-pakistan-us-ties-ispr.html


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Sherry due in Washington next week
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By Anwar Iqbal
WASHINGTON, Jan 2: Pakistan's new ambassador to the United States, Sherry Rehman, will arrive here on Jan 9 to occupy a position vacated by her controversial predecessor Husain Haqqani.

Diplomatic sources told Dawn that the US State Department sent its agreement to the Pakistan Embassy in Washington earlier this week and the embassy planned to send it to Islamabad on Tuesday...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/03/sherry-due-in-washington-next-week.html


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Commission calls Haqqani and Ijaz
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By Malik Asad
ISLAMABAD, Jan 2: A three-member judicial commission set up by the Supreme Court to investigate the 'memogate' scandal decided on Monday to summon former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani on January 9 and asked him and Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz to turn in their BlackBerry sets, relevant record and other related devices.

The commission, headed by Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, directed the federal government to provide security to Mr Haqqani and Mr Ijaz when they would come to attend the proceedings...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/03/commission-calls-haqqani-and-ijaz.html


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Former CJ's son terms Bhutto reference 'propaganda blitz'
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By Nasir Iqbal
ISLAMABAD, Jan 2: The hearing of presidential reference about revisiting the murder trial of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto took a dramatic turn on Monday when a son of a former chief justice approached the Supreme Court with an application and declared the reference a "propaganda blitz" at taxpayers' expense. And in another development, Justice (retd) Tariq Mehmood, an amicus curaie, excused himself from assisting the court in the reference.

He took the decision because of objections raised by Advocate Ahmed Raza Khan Qasuri whose complaint had implicated Mr Bhutto in the conspiracy to kill his father, Nawab Mohammad Ahmed Khan...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/03/former-cjs-son-terms-bhutto-reference-propaganda-blitz.html


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'Sarkozy knew about arms commissions'
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PARIS, Jan 2: President Nicolas Sarkozy knew about a shell company used to channel arms sales commissions in the 1990s, French media said on Monday, amid a probe into alleged illegal party funding in France that focuses on the 1994 sale of submarines to Pakistan and frigates to Saudi Arabia.

The Liberation daily quoted testimony to a judge from a former senior civil servant that in 1994 then-budget minister Sarkozy authorised the creation of Luxembourg-based company Heine to pay intermediaries in arms deals, notably with Pakistan...

http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/03/sarkozy-knew-about-arms-commissions.html


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Karachi Stocks Down 51.96 Points:
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KARACHI, Jan 02: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 11295.70, down 51.96 points.
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Forex Update:
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KARACHI, Jan 02: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at 90 to the US Dollar in the open market.
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